DVC... Is it now a good fit for us?

I'm sure you get this all the time and I'm sure you're tired of answering questions from people like me, so thanks in advance. I've tried to navigate it as much as I can on my own, with mixed results. I ask Disney and they make it sound like I'm a dope for not having a DVC right now, I investigate online and find that people's opinions vary wildly... So, here I am.

I'm thinking about doing a DVC somewhere in the EPCOT/DTD area (EPCOT is our favorite park, though we spend a ton of time at DTD). Leaning towards Boardwalk or maybe OKW (if there was a Poly DVC, it'd be a no-brainer... We'd buy in for sure). I'm just having a hard time figuring out if, cost wise, it would be smart for us. We seriously considered it before, but we ended up passing because we'd be losing free dining and since dining is huge for us, we figured it wasn't a good fit. Now that free dining is done away with... We're reconsidering again.

We are a family of 5, two adults, one child together, two children from a previous marriage. Right now, us adults go twice a year at least, off season, a week at a time. Now that our child together is almost 3 (and no longer free) and has been to Disney, we're thinking of either adding a trip (again, offseason) for all of us, or doing one trip out of our normal two with him. Eventually, when all the kids are over 5 (so... 2 years) we want to be able to bring all 3 and stay offseason.

We've always enjoyed staying at places like Pop and didn't put too much emphasis on rooms or room quality, but having just gotten back from a Deluxe resort, I have to say, I liked the experience a lot and while I wouldn't be sad going back to places like Pop, I'd be happy to just keep doing the Deluxe experience. That said, I'm thinking that if we start bringing the kids, the cost of the vacation will go up pretty significantly... Hovering around what it'd cost for the two of us to do Deluxe if it was just the two of us.

We're wondering if there's potential for real savings in there for us, enough that would maybe squeeze us from 2 trips to 3 trips, or save a decent amount of money on the two trips we take... For the two of us initially, then for the whole herd of us after that. We don't mind buying DDP separate, now that free dining is off the table, and we're probably going to get two adult APs if we do DVC.

Would a DVC for our family situation be cost-effective, or would it be more of a hassle then it's worth? The cost is kind of a gulper, but we spend already on average 4-5k per year on Disney trips for the past 3 years. We'd like to keep our travel to Disney just as regular, if not moreso, so maybe DVC is the way to slide?

Two things that I can say for certain, 100%, iron-clad certainty, since I know this comes up when we talk about DVC:

We will never, ever stay off property, regardless of how much it may save us. Never an option or even a consideration.

We will never, ever, for any reason or circumstance beyond winning a free trip, travel during an on-season or peak period. Even with bringing the kids and school considerations. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever will we do it. We will travel exclusively during off-season, without exception.

We don't so much care about the resort as we do the location. We want to be near EPCOT preferably, DTD as a second option. The cheapest option close to those two areas. Don't care about views, ambiance, or any of that... Just location.

I'll be honest, I'm not so familiar on the points and how they work, so any insight would be awesome. What do I give up by going DVC over resort?

Two things that I can say for certain, 100%, iron-clad certainty, since I know this comes up when we talk about DVC:

We will never, ever stay off property, regardless of how much it may save us. Never an option or even a consideration.

We will never, ever, for any reason or circumstance beyond winning a free trip, travel during an on-season or peak period. Even with bringing the kids and school considerations. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever will we do it. We will travel exclusively during off-season, without exception.

We don't so much care about the resort as we do the location. We want to be near EPCOT preferably, DTD as a second option. The cheapest option close to those two areas. Don't care about views, ambiance, or any of that... Just location.

I'll be honest, I'm not so familiar on the points and how they work, so any insight would be awesome. What do I give up by going DVC over resort?

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You really know your needs... now all you have to do is sort out the details. I'd say you're ready, as you seem sure of your intent.

Think of this before buying, though. If Poly started construction when GF is done, would you kick yourself for purchasing something else prior?

Now for all the great advice to come from other DVC DISers (this is SUCH a helpful community!!)

First question, what do you consider "off-season"? DVC availability doesn't run the same as non-DVC. For example, early Dec, you have to book at 11 months out. From the end of Sept through early January, DVC can be hard to book at seven months out. It's a very popular time with DVC members.

Also, how does your family of five fit into a villa? There are a few DVC one bedrooms that officially sleep five (one king bed, one queen sleeper sofa and one twin sized sleeper chair). The older ones (other than OKW) only have one king bed and one queen sized sleeper sofa. That would include BCV and BWV. They just don't have the room to add the sleeper chair.

So you might be more comfortable in a two bedroom villa. Also, BWV has no dedicated two bedroom villas, only lockoffs. That means a studio connected to a one bedroom. So a BWV two bedroom villa has one king bed, one queen bed, one queen sleeper sofa and one double sleeper sofa. BCV has dedicated two bedroom villas, but only 25 of them have two queen beds in the second bedroom (so you really need to book them at 11 months out). The rest of the dedicated two bedrooms at BCV have one queen bed and one double sleeper sofa in the second bedroom.

But the biggest difference between booking directly with Disney through Disney Reservation Center is availability. DVC members book their home resort at 11 months out and non-home resort at seven months out. So getting something at two or three months out might be impossible, especially for a longer period of time (like a full week).

And when you see availability online at DRC, those will not be available for points. So that studio at BWV for mid-October that you see in September on DRC will not be available for points. Some member probably traded their BWV points for the DCL or Adv by Disney and DVC now has to pay for that trip.

Keep doing your homework and find out more. Ask lots of questions. It's always sad to read on the DIS about a newer member who is upset because they can't do what they wanted to do because they didn't do their homework before they bought.

You really know your needs... now all you have to do is sort out the details. I'd say you're ready, as you seem sure of your intent.

Think of this before buying, though. If Poly started construction when GF is done, would you kick yourself for purchasing something else prior?

Now for all the great advice to come from other DVC DISers (this is SUCH a helpful community!!)

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Thanks for the offering of advice. Like I said, this is really confusing, especially to people like us who rent. LoL!

I think, at this point, we know a Poly DVC is a question of when and not if. At the earliest, I don't think anybody expects it before late 2014 or even 2015/16 (please, correct me if I'm wrong... From what I've read, that's what I keep seeing).

If I can be really frank, without it seeming like gloating or bragging (since when I stated this elsewhere, that's how it was taken), we are in a position that, next year, we'd be able to put down about 10k on a DVC outright, cash-in-hand.

If a Poly DVC opened in 2015 or certainly 2016, we would still be able to put some money towards that, though we'd probably only get (or want) enough for 1 off-season trip for the two of us. We've already said that the Poly would be "our gift to us," as it were, and wouldn't be for the family. If the Poly opened up something, we'd still want a majority of our points invested elsewhere.

We're big on Disney as a couple, and in the next 2-3 years we are going to be in a position financially where it'll be OK to do both. We've already discussed that, when we get to that point, we'd be happy just having one DVC for all of us, but if we could still have an experience that's shared "just us," that would be ideal.

First question, what do you consider "off-season"? DVC availability doesn't run the same as non-DVC. For example, early Dec, you have to book at 11 months out. From the end of Sept through early January, DVC can be hard to book at seven months out. It's a very popular time with DVC members.

Also, how does your family of five fit into a villa? There are a few DVC one bedrooms that officially sleep five (one king bed, one queen sleeper sofa and one twin sized sleeper chair). The older ones (other than OKW) only have one king bed and one queen sized sleeper sofa. That would include BCV and BWV. They just don't have the room to add the sleeper chair.

So you might be more comfortable in a two bedroom villa. Also, BWV has no dedicated two bedroom villas, only lockoffs. That means a studio connected to a one bedroom. So a BWV two bedroom villa has one king bed, one queen bed, one queen sleeper sofa and one double sleeper sofa. BCV has dedicated two bedroom villas, but only 25 of them have two queen beds in the second bedroom (so you really need to book them at 11 months out). The rest of the dedicated two bedrooms at BCV have one queen bed and one double sleeper sofa in the second bedroom.

But the biggest difference between booking directly with Disney through Disney Reservation Center is availability. DVC members book their home resort at 11 months out and non-home resort at seven months out. So getting something at two or three months out might be impossible, especially for a longer period of time (like a full week).

And when you see availability online at DRC, those will not be available for points. So that studio at BWV for mid-October that you see in September on DRC will not be available for points. Some member probably traded their BWV points for the DCL or Adv by Disney and DVC now has to pay for that trip.

Keep doing your homework and find out more. Ask lots of questions. It's always sad to read on the DIS about a newer member who is upset because they can't do what they wanted to do because they didn't do their homework before they bought.

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Those are awesome questions and a lot to think about.

Our travel window is pretty much what you see in the ticker. Our consistent times to go are the first week of Oct or that span after Columbus and before Halloween, and last week of Jan, first week Feb. We're looking at late April/early May (is that still off-peak?) to be when we add another trip. But for certain, the October and January vacations are planned at least 12 months out.

That said, we do like spontaneous trips a lot too. So maybe it'd be better to DVC for that winter/spring and still go OOP for October?

Thanks for the offering of advice. Like I said, this is really confusing, especially to people like us who rent. LoL!

I think, at this point, we know a Poly DVC is a question of when and not if. At the earliest, I don't think anybody expects it before late 2014 or even 2015/16 (please, correct me if I'm wrong... From what I've read, that's what I keep seeing).

If I can be really frank, without it seeming like gloating or bragging (since when I stated this elsewhere, that's how it was taken), we are in a position that, next year, we'd be able to put down about 10k on a DVC outright, cash-in-hand.

If a Poly DVC opened in 2015 or certainly 2016, we would still be able to put some money towards that, though we'd probably only get (or want) enough for 1 off-season trip for the two of us. We've already said that the Poly would be "our gift to us," as it were, and wouldn't be for the family. If the Poly opened up something, we'd still want a majority of our points invested elsewhere.

We're big on Disney as a couple, and in the next 2-3 years we are going to be in a position financially where it'll be OK to do both. We've already discussed that, when we get to that point, we'd be happy just having one DVC for all of us, but if we could still have an experience that's shared "just us," that would be ideal.

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Save, save, save your money! You will need more than 10k no matter whether you buy your points through Disney or resale. We have 280 points for our family of five and are consistently borrowing ahead. (other words; we need more points) And talking about borrowing, I would not put yourself in debt over DVC. Buy outright or wait until you can. Your certainly will not save money if you have to have a loan (unless you have a solid plan to pay it off quickly). And don't forget that you do have yearly maintenance fees. The cost of the fees is determined by how many points you own and what home resort you have.

If you buy now, your two year old does not count in the head count for the size of the room. In other words, you can squeeze yourself 'legally' into a studio with all of your kids. But when your child becomes three; he starts being counted so suddenly the studios are completely out if you bring all of your family.

Anyway, hope you find that it does work for you. It was one of the best decisions my family has made. We have been on some wonderful vacations we never would have dreamed of taking.

Thanks for the offering of advice. Like I said, this is really confusing, especially to people like us who rent. LoL!

I think, at this point, we know a Poly DVC is a question of when and not if. At the earliest, I don't think anybody expects it before late 2014 or even 2015/16 (please, correct me if I'm wrong... From what I've read, that's what I keep seeing).

If I can be really frank, without it seeming like gloating or bragging (since when I stated this elsewhere, that's how it was taken), we are in a position that, next year, we'd be able to put down about 10k on a DVC outright, cash-in-hand.

If a Poly DVC opened in 2015 or certainly 2016, we would still be able to put some money towards that, though we'd probably only get (or want) enough for 1 off-season trip for the two of us. We've already said that the Poly would be "our gift to us," as it were, and wouldn't be for the family. If the Poly opened up something, we'd still want a majority of our points invested elsewhere.

We're big on Disney as a couple, and in the next 2-3 years we are going to be in a position financially where it'll be OK to do both. We've already discussed that, when we get to that point, we'd be happy just having one DVC for all of us, but if we could still have an experience that's shared "just us," that would be ideal.

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Although owning at poly is a lot of our dreams the reality is by the time it would be built points may over $200 pp. A very modest 100 point purchase if you could even get one from disney would cost $20,000. That would be enough for a studio for off season 3 out of 4 years hypothetically. I don't think a future dvc should influence your decision to buy.

As far as your finances $10,000 is not bragging since most would advise not to buy if you don't have the cash. Which means a lot of people who buy or should be buying have well over $10,000 cash in hand.

Sounds like you are in a good position to think about buying. Even resale DVC will likely run you more than 10K though. You might look through the point charts, figure out how many points you might like to use in a year. Keep an eye on the ROFR thread, it really helps to sort of figure out the current market prices on contracts. Some sellers will list their contracts way above market value & hope for someone to overpay-- some have outstanding loans and feel they need to get that much for their contract. This is why most everyone here will tell you to buy when you can pay for it outright, or if you finance have a solid plan for paying it off ASAP.

MY family bought a BCV resale contract last summer. When we were first looking, my DH & I had a 10K cash budget for our purchase. After deciding that we really wanted BCV, & seeing what the kind of contract we wanted were going for, we started getting offers for 0% financing for 12-14 months (for a modest transaction fee.). We decided to take a 6k loan (that we knew we would be able to pay off this spring) and up our purchase budget to 15K. Happy to say I came in under budget when I was able to get our 200 pt contact for $65/pt + closing costs.

Good luck! Keep reading the DVC forums, you will learn lots.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards App, please excuse any typos or autocorrects!

First off, thanks for not being judgmental in this whole process. I said we were going to do cash-in-hand buys for DVC with an anticipated 10k, or up to 15k if we saved a little tighter... I was absolutely sent to the BBQ over it. Thanks for not being the same.

Secondly, with a group of 5, there's absolutely no way to do a studio? Right now everybody is little so in the ages that we'd be doing this, two adults with 3 kids who'd be 5, 6, and 9... Would we have to upgrade? Honestly, I don't think we'd need the room. We just stayed the Poly with 4 adults and an under two and that was more then comfortable. We all had plenty of room... Or is it an occupancy concern? Honestly, I don't know that we'd need a two-bedroom.

Thirdly, I'm in total agreement about the whole Poly thing. That's a down-the-road, adults-only thing. I'll price it and figure it out when it happens.

Fourthly, I see the DVC as more a adults trip, occasionally an adult and one child, very occasionally a 2 adults, 3 kids trip. If I were to guess, I'd say 2 trips a year would be adults-only, 1 would be adult and one child, and maybe every other year or every two years would be adult and three kids (finances and custody agreements may not lend themselves to full family trips more often, especially as they go about every 18 months with their mother and grandparents). So maybe the best solution is to buy for us and then go OOP for the rarer full family trips?

No, they absolutely will not book 5 into a studio, well unless it is 4 plus 1 under the age of 3. Having kids that young does not last long,

As a party of 5 you will need a 1 BR. And the only 1 BRs that have sleeping spaces for 5 are; OKW, AKV & BLT. At the other resorts they will let you register 5, but will not provide any bed or towels for the extra person. You would need to pack or order an air mattress & towel.

DVC is all about long term planning. So while you don't imagine needing a 2 BR right now-- some years down the road, you would have a 10, 11, and 14 year old and a 2 BR might be a whole lot better for your family than you can imagine right now. That long term mentality means that nobody here will give you grief about planning & saving & paying cash for your resale contract. They will give you grief about financing a timeshare, as that is not sound long term planning.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards App, please excuse any typos or autocorrects!

Since you like DTD, SSR might be a good fit, it's in walkable distance to DTD. And it's the cheapest resort (considering purchase price and MF).

Since you travel off season, I would buy SSR, if you can switch to an Epcot resort you'll be happy, if you cannot and stay at SSR and you'll be happy anyway.

I've just booked 12 consecutive nights in a value studio at AKV, one of the hardest view to book, the second and third week in September. But I needed 14 nights, so I added two nights at BCV (to try SAB).
Are you flexible to adjust your dates or resorts based on availability, and doing split stays?

If you travel off season for DVC, buying SSR is the best option, but as others said, you should check if off season for DVC is good for you and it does not equals for off site cash resorts.

With 10k I bough 150 points at SSR, loaded with previous year banked points, all expenses included.

First thing I would do is try and decide what current resorts your interested in. I know its difficult, but you need to start narrowing it down. Once you get down to say 3...I would then download the point charts for those resorts. Figure out how many points your gonna need. I believe in your case SSR will be your best bet. They have a lot of 1 and 2 bedroom suites that can fit the whole family, and cost wise probably one of the cheaper resorts.

I'm also assuming that your purchasing resale? If your purchasing directly through Disney, I believe you will only be able to purchase at the newer resorts from them directly on your original purchase. I may be wrong about this, but if memory serves, your first DVC purchase has to be a min. of 140 points and at a current DVC resort(BLT, Aulunai, AKW). If your purchasing resale, then you can scan for whatever resort you'd like, but need to pass through ROFR. (Thats where disney has the right to match your offer for any contract.)

I'm sure I've just added even more questions for you to ask, but better to think about it now.

The simple answer to your question though is YES DVC is a good fit for you, you just need to figure out the details now.

Our travel window is pretty much what you see in the ticker. Our consistent times to go are the first week of Oct or that span after Columbus and before Halloween, and last week of Jan, first week Feb. We're looking at late April/early May (is that still off-peak?) to be when we add another trip. But for certain, the October and January vacations are planned at least 12 months out.

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October, all of it, is exceptionally popular with the DVC crowd for WDW resort properties, especially Boardwalk and Beach Club. If you hope for Boardwalk Villas in Oct -- you should consider buying at Boardwalk Villas.

First thing I would do is try and decide what current resorts your interested in. I know its difficult, but you need to start narrowing it down. Once you get down to say 3...I would then download the point charts for those resorts. Figure out how many points your gonna need. I believe in your case SSR will be your best bet. They have a lot of 1 and 2 bedroom suites that can fit the whole family, and cost wise probably one of the cheaper resorts.

I'm also assuming that your purchasing resale? If your purchasing directly through Disney, I believe you will only be able to purchase at the newer resorts from them directly on your original purchase. I may be wrong about this, but if memory serves, your first DVC purchase has to be a min. of 140 points and at a current DVC resort(BLT, Aulunai, AKW). If your purchasing resale, then you can scan for whatever resort you'd like, but need to pass through ROFR. (Thats where disney has the right to match your offer for any contract.)

I'm sure I've just added even more questions for you to ask, but better to think about it now.

The simple answer to your question though is YES DVC is a good fit for you, you just need to figure out the details now.

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About the bolded part above. A DVC salesperson will push you toward the resorts that are in "active" sales (Aulani and AKV, currently), but you CAN buy any of the DVC resorts directly from Disney. In fact, I (along with others who have reported) even just got a letter from my DVC salesperson touting the availability of BWV points.

But you will pay somewhere in the neighborhood of double the price you'd pay on the resale market.

I ask Disney and they make it sound like I'm a dope for not having a DVC right now,...

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First of all, thanks for the "quote of the year". That made me literally LOL.
Anyway, congrats on taking a logical approach to this. There are so many ways to go, and based on the way you're approaching this, I bet you make the right decision that you won't regret. Good luck!!